Sure, the first part of that title might sound like a Steve Jobs quote, but Motorola's latest tweet merits the expression:

That's right - unlike almost all other Motorola devices in recent memory, the XOOM will ship with an unlocked (or at least "unlockable/relockable") bootloader. That means modders will be free to create custom ROMs and kernels for the tablet - not as surprising as it would be were the XOOM not a flagship Google device, but still very reassuring.

Comments

I guess motorola is starting to realize the opensource community is a factor when it comes to the success and progression of android and popularity of its devices that are open.

SiliconAddict

No they are realizing they, and all the other players in the tablet market other then Apple, have just launched off the starting line. They need to move to the head of the pack and FAST. They do this by leaving the bootloader open for business. People keep telling me only nerds and geeks hack their phone. I'm sorry but I'm seeing more and more moderately technical minded people ROMing their phones. Its growing beyond just a small segment of just the tech users. And at this point even 1,000-10,000 extra sales at $800 would be big. But a year from now? I'm betting they will be back to their old ways. This is purely a means to entrap you. But I have no problems with that. That is the beauty of android. They pull this crap later I can migrate to another device and use all my apps there as well.

I hope it's not a one-time wonder. Theyr didn't lock the original Droid, but see what they did to the Droid 2 and Droid X.

On the other hand, I think we should let Motorola knows that we really appreciate the unlocked bootloader.

Oliver

...and the Atrix? Is there a sanctioned unlock for that too? I think not... one step forward, two steps back... :(

Asphyx

I am left wondering how much of the locked bootloader was because of Motorola and how much was based on carrier insistence because they didn't want to support flashed phones and or wanted the ability to lock out features (like free WiFi tethering) so they could make more money.

But as was posted by a few already. This could just be the fact that they need people to start developing for this new platform and the best way to do that is to give them access to everything including the bootloaders.

Alpha Axl

My friend just told me that while the bootloader is unlocked, anything you put on has to be signed by Motorola...is this true? (Source if so?)